Jay-Z Admits Progress Will Not Always Lie In Full Ownership — ‘It’s Black-Owned If I Own 1% Of It’ – AfroTech

Jay-Z is challenging the perspective on ownership.

In an interview with GQ, Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, who was crowned Hip-Hop’s first billionaire in 2019, said he has always felt inclined to go against the grain growing up in Brooklyn, NY, and “seeing everybody fight against everything that we were up against at that time.”

“That defiance was just like: We going to do this on our own. We got to do this on our own. We’re by ourselves. So that defiance is what’s getting you through,” he explained to the magazine.

Jay-Z’s debut album, “Reasonable Doubt” (1996) was released under his own label, Roc-A-Fella Records, which he launched in 1994 alongside Damon “Dame” Dash and Kareem “Biggs” Burke, according to Vibe. It was also the first project to drop from the label and was distributed by Priority and Freeze Records, Burke told Genius.

“When we first dropped Reasonable Doubt, we sold 43,000 records. The energy was like, ‘You’re new. You haven’t proven yourself.’ But in our mind, the fact that we released an album was proof enough of the concept. We did it,” Jay-Z told GQ. “Remember, we’re not in control of distribution, marketing, anything. We’re going like a street-level, street-team approach to this. And so when we put the album out—that was the win.”

Roc-A-Fella Records moved to Def Jam in 1997, selling 50% of the company for $1.5 million. The remaining stake was later sold to Island Def Jam Music Group for $10 million, Trapital reports. Jay-Z became president as a result of the acquisition in 2004, per GQ. Still, it was never meant to be a long-term play, but rather a strategic one to secure his master recordings from Def Jam Recordings. He officially exited his role as president in 2007, Billboard reports. A year later, he launched Roc Nation, an entertainment company that covers artist management, music publishing, touring, production, strategic brand development, and more, according to its website.

Jay-Z’s other power plays in ownership include investing $1 million for a stake in the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets in 2004, then selling that stake in 2013, per Forbes, and launching the sports management agency Roc Nation Sports that same year.

While ownership remains a common thread in Jay-Z’s story, he also notes to GQ that it means a balance between independence and knowing when to welcome strategic partnerships to succeed in the music business and beyond.

“I have to deal with the reality of the world, and I’m going to navigate this world not only for me but for a bunch of people that’s been disenfranchised by a system that doesn’t play fair for us. In order for us to progress forward, we have to deal with the world the way it is,” he told GQ. “Sometimes that means going out and starting your own company. Sometimes that means partnering with established companies because that’s the world that we live in. [There’s] nowhere you’re going to go that Black people control distribution and control media. At some point you’re going to have to partner with somebody.”

He added, “There’s so many different ways to go about being successful and achieving great things in music and beyond. I’m just open to all those—just seeing the world for what it is. Not like, ‘Everything has to be a hundred percent Black-owned.’ It’s Black-owned if I own 1% of it. Elon Musk owns 20% of Tesla. You wouldn’t say it’s not his. You would not say it’s not ‘white-owned.’ I don’t even know if I’ve ever heard the term ‘white-owned.’”